Northumbria Local Resilience Forum

The forum consists of organisations and agencies involved with emergency response in communities across Northumberland and Tyne and Wear.

The Northumbria Local Resilience Forum consists of organisations and agencies involved with emergency response in our communities across the Northumberland and Tyne and Wear area.

Local resilience forums were developed under the Civil Contingencies Act 2004 to co-ordinate the actions and arrangements between responding bodies in the area - to provide the most effective and efficient response to civil emergencies when they occur (see role of local resilience forum).

Visit the site to find out more about the risks the forum has identified in our area and the plans we have put in place to ensure that our communities are resilient and robust.

This website provides local people and businesses with information and advice on steps you can take to be better prepared before, during and after an emergency.

At times of emergency, this website will be used to publish information about what is happening, how the emergency is being managed, where to find further information and how you can assist. It will also direct any enquiries to the North East Information Line (NEIL) - 08456 004 004.

Useful links

Contact us

About us

The aim of the Northumbria Local Resilience Forum is to facilitate multi-agency working to fulfil the requirements of the Civil Contingencies Act 2004.

Our objectives

The objectives of the Northumbria Local Resilience Forum are:

to facilitate co-operation between local responder organisations such as the police and local authorities

to facilitate information sharing between local responder organisations

to assess the risk of emergencies in the Northumbria Local Resilience Forum area

to facilitate the development of multi-agency emergency plans and arrangements

to assist local authorities in promoting business continuity in the local community

to ensure that suitable arrangements are in place to warn, inform and advise the public in the event of emergency

Our membership

The Northumbria Local Resilience Forum membership is made up of responder organisations found within the Northumbria Police area boundary. The Civil Contingencies Act divides local responders into two categories, imposing different duties on each.

Category one

These organisations are at the core of the response to most emergencies (e.g. emergency services, local authorities, NHS bodies). They’re subject to the full set of civil protection duties. They’re required to:

assess the risk of emergencies occurring and use this to inform contingency planning

put in place emergency plans

put in place business continuity management arrangements

put in place arrangements to make information available to the public about civil protection matters and maintain arrangements to warn, inform and advise the public in the event of an emergency

share information with other local responders to enhance co-ordination;

co-operate with other local responders to enhance co-ordination and efficiency

provide advice and assistance to businesses and voluntary organisations about business continuity management (local authorities only)

Category two

These "co-operating bodies" are less likely to be involved in the heart of planning work but will be heavily involved in incidents that affect their sector. They have a lesser set of duties - co-operating and sharing relevant information with other responders.

Organisations from both categories come together to create forums (based on police areas) which help co-ordination and co-operation between responders at the local level.

The bulk of part one of the Civil Contingencies Act gave a duty to local authorities to provide advice and assistance to business and voluntary organisations about business continuity management.

This includes ‘blue light’ responders such as the police, fire and rescue services, ambulance services and local authorities, NHS bodies, environment agency and voluntary organisations who support emergency management in the area.

Our partner organisations are governed by various pieces of legislation for implementing and managing resilience. These place statutory (compulsory) and non-statutory duties on these organisations. Key pieces of legislation which govern our partner organisations includes:

Help yourself

An emergency is any event or situation which threatens serious damage to people, property and / or the environment.

What is an emergency?

An emergency is any event or situation which threatens serious damage to people, property and / or the environment.

There may be times when an emergency affects you, but your life isn’t in immediate danger. In these times, you need to know how to help yourself and those around you. Find out how you and your family can prepare for, respond to, and recover from emergencies. Look at ‘before an emergency’ for more information.

The role of the forum is to assess the risks which the community of Northumbria might face and to plan how each agency will respond to deal with them. The sorts of emergencies that could affect people in Northumbria are severe weather, flooding, industrial accidents or pandemic influenza outbreak. For further detail refer to the community risk register (CRR).

Specific plans are developed, tested and exercised to ensure that partners are aware of and can fulfil their roles in the event of a multi-agency response being required to some of the risks identified in the CRR (click here to go to library section).

Other generic plans are developed to provide a framework for multi-agency responses for less frequent or unexpected events and situations.

Consider making your own emergency checklist of the actions and key contacts you will need in the event of an emergency requiring you to evacuate from your home.

Consider putting together an emergency "Grab Bag" to keep in a safe place ready in case the worst happens.

Consider whether your buildings and contents insurance gives you cover for the key risks likely to affect your home. See Obtaining Flood Insurance in High Risk Areas. Make a note of insurance policy numbers and copies of the policies to keep in your Grab Bag.

Consider enrolling for a First Aid course for you / your family for any medical emergencies.

Identify where your gas / electricity and water services come into your home and how to turn them off (stop cocks) in the event of an emergency.

Make a list of key emergency service numbers (police, ambulance, fire and rescue, and water, gas, electricity suppliers for example) and keep a copy in the Grab Bag.

Make sure family members know where the Grab Bag is located and don't forget to update the contents of the emergency checklist from time to time as contact numbers etc may change.

The advice for most emergencies is normally GO IN, STAY IN AND TUNE IN.

Go Indoors unless there is an obvious risk to the property or you are advised to evacuate for your safety by the emergency services. Close all doors and windows and, if the emergency is related to potential flooding, block any air bricks/grates if possible. If the emergency is related to release of any toxic substances also close any ventilation systems (if safe to do so).

Stay Indoors until you know more about the risks or are advised that it is safe to leave your home.

Tune In to local radio (see here) or television stations for updates on the situation or, if you have access to the website, visit relevant web sites (see links page).

Don't try to phone the emergency services unless you yourself have an emergency as the phone lines may be busy dealing with the incident.

Also refer to the Met Office website for up to date information and forecasts on weather conditions.

Additional advice

If a contact number or website address is issued by the emergency services, use it to get updates but remember you will be one of many people trying to use it so there may be some delay in getting through. Be patient and keep trying if you cannot get the information you want from other sources.

Do not put yourself, or others, in any danger.

When checking for injuries to yourself or others always attend to yourself first.

Consider if there are any elderly or vulnerable neighbours who may need help in preparing for or during an emergency.

If advised to do so, be prepared to evacuate and follow any instructions with regard to safe routes away from the danger area.

Flooding presents a number of risks to health, drowning being the most obvious. Serious injury can be caused by falling into fast flowing water or from hidden dangers under the water, such as missing manhole covers. The stress and strain of being flooded and cleaning up can have a notable impact on mental health and wellbeing.

If evacuation is recommended, a rendezvous point for evacuees will normally be established and a rest centre set up for longer term emergency incidents where you will be able to stay.

If you choose not to use the rest centre, please advise the emergency services staff at the rest centre of your alternative arrangements so people are not deployed to "search" for you if you cannot be located.

Once an emergency incident has been dealt with and any risk to people, property and/or the environment has been dealt with, the recovery phase will begin for you, your family and your community.

Actions to consider:

If the all clear has been given, and you have remained in your property, check externally for any damage and, if any is identified, contact your insurer (or landlord if you live in rented property).

If there is structural damage contact your local council (see links page) for advice on safety of your building and any action required.

If you have evacuated during the emergency carry out an external visual inspection around the house before entering the property. Only if there is no obvious structural damage should you enter the property to look for any internal damage or effects from the emergency.

When entering the property do not switch on lights, electrical equipment or have any naked lights until you are satisfied there is no smell of gas (if used in the property).

If there is internal damage again contact your insurer (or landlord) and do not carry out any remedial work until they have given their authorisation.

Consider if there are any elderly or vulnerable neighbours who might need your assistance.

Flooding presents a number of risks to health, drowning being the most obvious. Serious injury can be caused by falling into fast flowing water or from hidden dangers under the water, such as missing manhole covers. The stress and strain of being flooded and cleaning up can have a notable impact on mental health and wellbeing.

Consider what future resilience you can build into your property and what support might be available - see www.centre4resilience.org

Health advice:

Please remember:

Your local council, emergency services and/or utility providers may still be dealing with the aftermath and people and property affected by the emergency, so services may not be available as quickly as normally provided. Please be patient.

Help your business

Statistics show that almost one in five businesses will be affected by a major disruption every year. The consequences can result in loss of customers, revenue and even the business itself.

How you can help your business

There are ways that you can reduce the risks to your business by preparing a ‘business continuity plan’. In this you consider risks like flooding, severe weather, pandemic influenza or industrial accident and plan how you could overcome them.

Consider what would happen if you lost:

staff due to a pandemic influenza or other contagious disease

your premises due to fire or flooding or structural damage after severe weather

Be prepared

Business continuity management is a process which provides a framework to help you and your business respond to emergencies and recover more quickly if and when they occur. For advice and information look at Business Continuity Advice for Dummies.

Why it is important to have a plan

A business continuity plan critically assesses the risks to your business and sets out the steps you can take to mitigate the effects of those risks if they ever occur.

Once you've assessed the possible risks you can consider what mitigation you can undertake to reduce the impacts such as insurance. If you're business is in an area likely to flood, for example, consider Obtaining Flood Insurance in HIgh Risk Areas.

A plan, just like a fire drill, should be known by your staff and tested and exercised on a regular basis to ensure it stays relevant to your circumstances and up to date with any changes in the business.

Benefits of having a plan

For your customers, knowing you have a business continuity plan (BCP) can give them confidence in the sustainability of your organisation and services.

For you and your organisation, ensuring your suppliers have a BCP can give you confidence in the consistency of your supply chain.

Creating a plan

The following five key steps will help your organisation create a business continuity plan:-

Emergencies do not have a set schedule or time frame. They can arise slowly with issues such as a pandemic influenza outbreak or more quickly such as severe weather or flooding. It is important that, as an organisation, you are able to recognise the risk(s) and to respond as early as possible.

Listen out to local radio and television bulletins.

If the incident is weather-related, refer to the Met Office for updates and forecasts on weather conditions to help your planning and response.

90% of businesses that lose data from a disaster are forced to close within two years.

Considerations

Start a log of events and actions taken in response.

Activate your business continuity plan.

Identify which staff you need and what they will do.

Premises - do you need to look at relocation of premises/processes?

Supplies - what do you need and where can they be sourced?

Services - what ones are key to your business?

Communications to stakeholders, staff, suppliers and the public about the effects to your business.

See also:

Help your community

When an emergency occurs it can affect the whole community. While the emergency services are dealing with the effects and consequences, your time and energy can help to deal with the social aspects.

Helping Your Community

As a member of a voluntary or community organisation such as British Red Cross, St. John's Ambulance, a church group and many others, your time and skills can be used in the response and recovery phases.

Consider volunteering for a local voluntary or community group activity.

This can be rewarding in itself and gives you a way to use any particular skills or interests you might have .

Whether this is as a member of the village hall committee, British Red Cross or some other past-time, it gives you an opportunity to learn about your community and develop other skills which might benefit your family and / or community in the wider context.

From an emergency response view point, volunteers from recognised organisations are more likely to be used than "ad hoc" volunteers as their background will be known to their organisation "managers" and skills recognised.

Some voluntary organisations regularly work with the emergency services in preparing and testing plans for emergency responses so their personnel are known to the emergency services and they are aware of the processes and procedures which might be used.

Firstly, ensure your own safety, don't put yourself or anyone else at risk in looking to support an emergency response.

Tune in to local radio / television channels to keep abreast of the news and developments in the emergency and be able to respond to any instructions or advice from the emergency services. If you observe problems, such as rising flood waters, do contact and advise the emergency services if this looks likely to pose a risk to you or others in your community.

If you are a member of a recognised Category 2 responder agency - Red Cross, WRVS, Mountain Rescue Team etc - you may be contacted by your manager to support an emergency response either in a rest centre or other capacity. You will be given advice on where to attend and the relevant weather / road conditions.

Ensure you have the right clothing and equipment to make the journey and, if you have any doubt about being able to get to the location safely, advise your manager and do not attempt to travel as you may only add to the emergency situation.

If you can travel safely to the agreed location then do so and your assistance, in whatever capacity has been requested, will be gratefully received.

Non-associated "convergent" volunteers are people who wish to offer assistance to the response but are not directly linked to a Category 2 responding agency or voluntary agency and come forward to offer assistance without request.

More often than not people do appear who want to offer their help without being called out. While volunteers are always welcome and can make the response that bit easier, please be aware that you may not be needed at the time you present yourself and may be asked to "come back later" or to do another task rather than one you thought you might want to do.

An example might be a rest centre where the manager has already contacted relevant voluntary organisations for support staff. If you attend to offer help, you might be asked to assist with making and distributing tea and coffee for a period until other staff arrive, or even asked to perhaps come back in a few hours as there are enough staff already available to manage the centre.

If a rest centre is likely to be operating for a number of hours, or even days, the availability of a pool of volunteers to assist will be welcomed to provide consistent and adequate support to the pepole affected.

Please do not take offence - your details should be taken and contact information noted when you present yourself.

Recognise that the rest centre is a place of safety for those people affected by the emergency, whatever that might be, and it is the relevant council's responsibility to ensure the safety of the people involved. People attending, not linked to recognised voluntary agencies, are unknown and as such a "risk".

It is the responsibility of the rest centre manager (council) to manage the resources available without putting people at risk and so they would look to ensure that any unknown volunteers are always supervised and supported for their own and the council's benefit.

Your assistance would always be welcomed but hopefully you will appreciate that it has to be managed according to the situation and needs of the response.

If you refer to the opening page of this section, Help Your Community, you will see a reference to the community resilience programme, you can get guidance from this on how you might help your community after any emergency.

Severe weather or flooding events can have significant effects on communities both environmentally and psychologically. The need to come together and support each other in those type of events is particularly important for the longer term recovery. Be aware and keep an eye out for neighbours showing signs of stress after such events and try to guide the to appropriate support services.

Some agencies will continue to work in, be available to and assist communities well after the actual incident has passed. Alert them to any concerns you might have for yourself or for others.

If you yourself have been affected by the event you can look to your local council for assistance. They will normally establish a humanitarian assistance service or centre where you can get advice on all aspects of the recovery and restoration process from how to safely dispose of damaged goods to insurance and accommodation advice.

You can promote these services to others affected in your community who might need similar assistance or help - vulnerable, disabled or hard to reach neighbours may not readily access such support themselves so your assistance will help them access the support available. You can also submit names and contact details of such people to the humanitarian assistance service so they can make contact directly.

If you are able, you can help with the recovery and restoration programme in assisting with clearance of debris or other materials from your own and neighbours' property in a safe manner. Be aware that some debris may be contaminated and you should follow any guidance regarding the safe clearance of materials which can be provided by the council, Environment Agency or other agencies involved.

If you volunteer to assist with wider community clean-up programmes the managing service will give you the necessary health and safety advice and personal protective equipment to participate safely.

Depending on the type and effects of the Emergency there may be local fund raising activities established to support those affected. There may also be local commemorative events and activities organised to acknowledge the event and those affected. It is your personal choice as to how you become involved in these.

Our Help

The Northumbria Local Resilience Forum is not a statutory body, but each of its members have statutory duties under the Civil Contingencies Act, 2004.

The Northumbria Local Resilience Forum is not a statutory body, but each of its members have statutory duties under the Civil Contingencies Act, 2004.

Their duties are to co-operate and work together to identify the risks likely to or actually affecting Northumbria, publish their assessment of those in the community risk register and make necessary plans to prevent, mitigate or deal with impacts of those risks.

You can see examples of these plans in our library section. Some are not available to the public, due to confidential content.

The forum doesn’t have any personnel, workforce or resources so can’t respond to any emergency incident. It can, however, ensure that member bodies are well placed to give assistance and offer mutual aid to each other when required.

The forum is able to facilitate the inter-agency working required, both in Northumbria and nationally, to give effect to the various plans for dealing with the identified risks and promote awareness through making those plans available to the public through this website and other communication media.

When an emergency has impacts which cross local authority boundaries, or is of such a scale that individuals cannot deal with the issues alone, the forum may come together as a strategic co-ordinating group (SCG) by declaring a Major Incident to provide a multi-agency co-ordinated response to the threats and impacts. (see LRF Multi Agency Major Incident Declaration Protocolhere)

These will normally be chaired by the police or other appropriate agency until the emergency is over. The recovery phase will then be led by the relevant local authority or agency.